Mus'haf As I See It.. By Nemrah Ahmed

Mus'haf..or the Scripture...

A year ago when I had started writing it, not for a single moment did it occur to me what change it would bring in the lives of many. All thanks to Allah even if it did so, no credit goes to me. It was supposed to be a maximum 2 episoded novel about a young girl who experiences two kinds of lives before and after marriage, and the way she seeks help from Qur'an Kareem throughout the tough phases. It was about Mehmil, her handsome hero Humayun, her son Taimur, and her arrogant, bold cousin Aarzoo. It was about everything that you have read, it was about everyone that you have read, except for one.

Farishteh !

When I had planned the manuscript, a gold-sparkled eyed girl, claded in Hijab, dignified and calm was not a part of this. Not until Mehmil Ibrahim's jump on the roof of Mosque was penned down did such a girl exist. From there, for the first time, a charcter emerged from my pen without my own knowledge. From where, I do not know. How, I do not know. Why, but yes I do know this!

Farishteh Ibrahim remained the most controversial character in Mus'haf. An unplanned character which planned the whole story, a charcter that eventually became the whole story! Even after it was introduced in the novel, I had planned a different ending for it from the one you have read, but at the last moment, a few days before August's issue, it forced me to change the ending. It decided its destiny itself, and time proved, that its decision was right and fair.

The reason I am penning this down is to address the objections and the controversies that this character gave birth to. Many people ask me, if she had to be so bad in the end, then why made her so good in the start? Has it been done to give a negative message of the kind that all devoted religious people turn out to be like THIS?  and so on....

A writer's job is not to defend  his/her write-up, but to explain. Thats what I plan to do here.

Mainly, Mus'haf was about two girls. One grew up with Deen and Ilm, other acquired it later in life. With due course of time, they both did  prove themselves to be devoted, religious and God-fearing Muslimahs. Because the story was narrated from Mehmil's point of view, revealing her  inner-most reflections only, she did not look quite religious to readers as compared to Farishteh, even though the former after one zamanay ki thokar moulded itself quite quickly and kept reforming herself. Once, she was touched by Pride of Knowledge but soon she realized her mistake and returned.

Farishteh was a different kind. She was put in all sorts of tests, from losing parents and beloved , to neligence of relatives. She survived them all. But when the Test of Knowldge came, you all saw how she lost. She was indulged in nothing but Pride of Knowledge, a pride that makes a pious person think about getting his share of life because he deserves it. That's what Farishteh did. She bent towards the Earth; a single bend, a small bow steals from you everything that you had gained through years of devotion and religious practice. On the other hand, when this test came to Mehmil, she did not go for revenge, she did not think that why a religious girl like her was put into this. Rather, she blamed her own short-comings for her situation. She went for Hitta'tun. She went for repentence and Taubah.

Mus'haf was not about how a religious girl turns out to be a culprit, as misunderstood by many. It was about how two religious, piuos, God-fearing girls  when made to enter a new door of life react exactly opposite to each other. One went for Humayun, other for Allah. Though they both loved the two, each went for the one she loved more. It was just a matter of how much they really loved their beloved.

Why Farishteh was in the same phase till the end was a frequently asked question. Answer is simple. She did not really make her Tauba. She realized her mistake, she confessed it but she never asked for forgiveness, neither from Mehmil nor from Humayun. Same did Humayun. He asked for forgiveness but never confessed his mistake, rather blamed Farishteh for it. They both were even in the end not sincere to themselves or Allah. Result is what you have witnessed....

The reason I showed a perfect Muslimah to go the wrong way is that after reading Mus'haf, plenty of people had to turn to Mus'haf , Taw'an or Kar'han, and they might become as religious and devoted as Farishteh was. So there is a lesson for them all. Do never be too satisfied with yourself even if you recite the Holy Qur'an every day. Always remember Farishteh and what her one mistake did to her life.

And never be like her....

Fa li Allah al Hamd wa al Shukr...
-Nemrah Ahmed

(God breaks you through the hands of the mortal that you love the most. Humans should be like a broken pot through which the love of mortals can come and go. – Nemrah Ahmed, Mus’huf)